


Moonlight Amid the Mountains

by antigrav_vector



Series: (R)BB fics - all pairings [20]
Category: Captain America (MCU), Iron Man (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Space, Bucky has a thing for hearing Tony talk, Comic Book Science, Competence Kink, F/M, Fluff, Hand Fetish, He blinded me with science, M/M, Masturbation, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Pining, Science porn, Semi-Public Sex, Sex Pollen, Space Exploration, Teasing, Tony POV, Tony has a competence kink, Very slight dubcon, and Bucky delivers in spades, and Tony delivers in spades, but they're definitely under the influence, i mean that literally, in approximately equal measures, science is sexy, there is a chapter of both science and porn, they both consent and want it, voice fetish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-06 09:38:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16385528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: Steve Rogers and his Howling Commandos were legendary around SHIELD HQ, and Tony had always kind of dreamed of getting to work with them on one of their exploration missions. He didn't expect to ever get the chance, though, resigning himself to admiring the whole group of them from afar. Unfortunately, his attraction to competence didn't discriminate when it came to gender, so when he got tapped to run a mission with Rogers and his team because their usual tech was unavailable -- coincidentally, said tech was his good friend and science bro Banner, and Tony suspected ulterior motives -- he did something he didn't normally do: he dithered.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Posted with thanks to my beta reader [dapperanachronism](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dapperanachronism) and my artist [esaael](http://esaael.tumblr.com/).
> 
> I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now. -- Henry David Thoreau

"Tony, seriously. You should go. This is a great opportunity for you, and I can't get away from the labs right now. The timing on this set of experiments is critical and I can't leave it to my interns."

Bruce was trying to reason him into going off planet. It was weirdly like changing places. Normally he was the one that had to convince Bruce to do things that involved any sort of risk.

But being on a ship with the _Howling Commandos_ for a _month and a half_ sounded like the worst kind of temptation.

"Bruce, seriously. What about Parker? He's reliable and has the brains you're looking for in a second-in-command," Tony offered his own intern, in a bid to get Bruce to see just how serious he was about this.

Bruce frowned at him. "There's something else in play here. You've always wanted to go out on an expedition, and now that you have the chance you're refusing point blank."

Great. Bruce suspected him now, and wasn't going to let it go. Tony saw his brother-in-science's frown turn into a thoughtful expression. "This doesn't happen to have anything to do with your weird I-always-work-alone thing, does it?"

Tony jumped on the excuse. "And if it does?"

"Then I'd have to tell you that Barnes is every bit as good at his job as the rumours suggest. Go with them, Tony; you won't regret it."

Tony let his head fall back until he could stare at the ceiling for a beat, then looked back at Bruce, making sure his expression didn't betray him. "That's not at all what I'm concerned about."

"No, what you're concerned about is screwing up," Bruce retorted, and Tony felt like he'd been pinned to a board, like one of Bruce's biological samples. "But I've never seen you get quite so worked up about it."

"Damn it, Bruce, my specialty is machines and tech! What good is that going to do me when they drop some bizarre new animal in my lap and expect me to tell them if it's venomous or not?"

That _also_ wasn't the full reason why he was resisting, but it might be enough of the truth to get Bruce off his case.

"Take Maya with you, then," Bruce told him.

Tony shuddered. The woman was good at her job. Damned good. But she was even worse than he was in social situations and had no kind of training with guns. She'd be a liability, despite her brains. "That's a terrible plan, Bruce."

"She's the only other person currently available to go on this expedition, Tony," his friend pointed out, his voice reasonable.

With a very frustrated growl underlying his voice, Tony replied, "I know that. It's the only reason I haven't said yes or no yet."

"Tell them yes, Tony," Bruce urged him again, then he paused and his expression did something strange. "Tony," he asked, speaking slowly and giving the impression he was choosing his words very carefully, "is there some other reason you don't want to go with them?"

Busted. Tony said nothing.

"There is, isn't there." Bruce pinched at the bridge of his nose. "And if it's not scientific -- which you'd have told me about already -- it must be something interpersonal. There's no other reason to refuse that the board would consider sufficient. But it's not something you want to reveal to them, or you'd have done it already. Ergo, you don't want to refuse because then you'd have to talk about feelings and you don't want to accept for much the same reason."

Sometimes Tony regretted having smart friends. "More or less," he admitted on a sigh.

"Well, you'll have to either suck it up and deal with talking to Fury and Hill about that little problem, or go on the expedition," Bruce pointed out. "Frankly, I think going offplanet would be less painful. And besides, you're being very pessimistic about this. It could end a lot better than you think."

The worst thing about that was, Bruce was probably right. He was screwed. "I hate you."

Bruce laughed at him outright. "No, you don't. Come on, we're going to get some coffee, and then you're going to accept, and go make your preparations."

Scowling, Tony gave in.

The next few hours passed in a whirlwind of activity. Bruce had all but frog-marched him into the Operations Centre and watched him sign the paperwork stating that he was going.

Tony kept up his usual front, but he couldn't help feeling like he was signing his own death warrant. Being cooped up on a ship for one and a half weeks with nothing to do but talk and prepare for their mission was not something he was looking forward to. It would test his resolve in ways he didn't feel comfortable discussing. Not even with someone he trusted like a brother. Bruce was solidly in his corner and wasn't about to budge, but Tony couldn't tell him that he was attracted to the whole damned team but Barnes in particular.

The things that man could do. With or without a gun.

It was enough to fuel any number of fantasies. Thinking about Barnes' hands alone had been enough to get him off more than once.

And now he'd be trapped in close quarters with the man. Worse, Rogers and Carter would be around and likely watching him like hawks.

If he managed to get through this mission without the Commandos figuring out how he felt, it would be a miracle of biblical proportions. That, he knew, was highly unlikely to go in his favor. The big question was: how would they react once they worked it out?

Rogers, he was fairly sure, wasn't going to kick him off the mission. But making Tony's life miserable would be easy.

Scrubbing at his face with his hands and idly noting that he ought to shave properly while he still had the opportunity -- aboard ship there wasn't enough water, so he'd have to make do with depilatory creams, ugh -- Tony bit back a sigh and headed back to his quarters to pack his allowed personal bag. The required scientific equipment would be supplied by SHIELD, so he didn't have to worry about attempting to pack up his lab, or worse, Bruce's.

It didn't take him long to finish the task, so he dropped the now full bag on his bed and showered, letting himself luxuriate in the feeling of the hot water.

He'd stepped out of the spray, toweled himself off, and was about to lather up his face when someone pounded on his door rather than use the buzzer.

"For fuck's sake," he grumbled loudly, wrapping his bright red towel around his waist and stomping out of his bathroom to yank open his door, "what do you want?"

"Errr. Is this a bad time?" the taller blonder of his two visitors asked and stared at him awkwardly, and belatedly Tony realised just who it was that had come by.

Laughing, because of fucking course his goddamn Captain and his crush would turn up at exactly the wrong moment -- that was just typical of his luck -- Tony turned and grabbed a pair of pants out of his locker. "Give me a minute."

Rogers nodded, carefully not looking at him. He kept his eyes locked on some point above Tony's shoulder and behind him. "Sure," he said, sounding a little strangled.

Barnes snickered at them both, but Tony could see the Sergeant was a bit pink, himself. "Get presentable, we'll wait," he suggested, and pulled the door closed again.

As he dressed, Tony could just about make out the murmurs of their voices, and had to force himself not to try to listen in. He didn't want to know. As first impressions went, that probably was the worst he could have imagined. Well, okay, no, he could imagine much worse. But the point remained.

Damn everything to Mars and back, anyway.

Deciding that pants and a shirt was sufficient, he ran his fingers through his hair just enough to pretend like he'd combed it properly, and opened the door again. "What can I do for you, then?" he asked them, knowing there was no way they'd ever take him seriously after the introduction they'd just had.

Barnes chuckled. "Come have a bite to eat and we'll talk about it over food," he invited. "Your personal quarters aren't quite up to seating three, if they're anything like ours."

Tony knew they knew exactly how big his personal quarters were. They'd just gotten a good look. Hell, he was lucky to have as much space as he did. "Well, I was going to shave," he replied, "but I suppose I can hear you out."

Rogers raised an eyebrow at him. "You're very particular about your appearance," he said mildly.

"I do prefer to project a certain image in public, yes," Tony replied, his voice dry, "and it's not graduate-student-coming-off-a-bender, no matter how accurate that description may be at times."

The statement got an amused huff out of the Captain, that time, and Tony decided to chalk it up as a win in his column. That was worth something, considering.

"How often is it accurate?" Rogers asked him.

Tony debated how to answer, not sure if that was a trap or a joke. "Depends on how much work I have on my desk."

Barnes grinned at him. "And just what's the threshold value on that variable?"

"Lot of factors influencing the answer," Tony replied easily, giving him a non-answer. "Someone usually digs me out of my lab before I hit it, though."

"You mean like they had to do to get you to sign the paperwork today?" Barnes' grin widened.

Tony kept pointedly quiet long enough that they reached the mess hall doors and Rogers stepped in. "You two can pick that topic up again later," he said firmly. "We do have some business that needs addressing before our departure."

Predictably, after that, nothing much of import got discussed. There were a lot of emergency procedures that Tony nodded through, some suggestions on the shipboard labs and the limitations of the equipment that he paid attention to, and the general descriptions of the remaining team members' skills. It was the standard pre-mission info-dump, really, albeit with a few personal details about the Commandos that Tony hadn't heard before.

Barnes was giving him a skeptical look as Rogers wrapped up. "You got all that?"

Tony shrugged. He could've repeated it back verbatim if he'd had to. He just didn't feel the need. "More or less. And I figure I have a week and a half of transit time to pin down the details, if necessary," he said, not wanting to tip his hand in the first hour of their acquaintance.

To his surprise they both accepted that, and stood, their trays in hand.

With a wink, Barnes fired his parting shot, pitching his voice not to carry too far. "Go shave the scruff off your face, then. We'll see you aboard. Departure is scheduled for 1942, station time, and the doors shut an hour before then."

The pair of them strolled casually out of the mess, talking quietly, leaving Tony to stare after them. Barnes looked very pleased with himself.

Much as he hated that, it was an attractive look.

Tony shook his head to clear it. He needed to stop lusting over his ship's second-in-command -- or at least try to -- before it got him into trouble.

Well. More trouble. This mission was going to end in tears.

Shaking his head again, this time at himself, Tony stood and returned his plates and flatware, then decided he'd follow his 'marching orders'. He did still want to shave. The part of him that tried to tell him he just wanted to look his best when he showed up aboard ship to make Barnes' stupidly handsome jaw drop, well, he stifled that as much as he could.

Nonetheless, it was true.

Telling himself he just wanted to enjoy having hot water while he could didn't help, either. Not enough.

But when he showed up at the docking bay, shaven, dressed up in his newly issued olive drab mess dress, and carrying his duffel bag in his hand to avoid wrinkling said uniform, Barnes happened to be idling around, talking to one of the Commandos Tony hadn't met yet.

The stranger caught sight of him first, and gave him an appraising look. "This the techie you were waitin' for, Barnes?"

Tony watched Barnes turn to face him and saw the moment his eyes widened. "You really weren't kidding, earlier," was all he commented, though. "Let's get you settled in. Dugan, we'll finish our game later. Duty calls."

Dugan raised an eyebrow at his officer, clearly stifling a snicker. "So," he said with a broad grin, "you decide to waltz off with the arm candy before you even introduce him to me?"

Arm candy?

"Sorry," Tony decided to snark, "but you're not my type. Dugan, was it?"

Barnes looked slightly pained, but Tony ignored that without comment since the reply got him an outright chuckle and a hand to shake.

"No, I'll bet I'm not. You're not mine, neither. It's Tim, but everyone aboard calls me Dumdum," Dugan offered, his grip neither limp nor overly hard.

"Call me Tony, then." He turned back to Barnes. "Well, Sergeant, you gonna give me the grand tour and show me where I'm bunking?"

Barnes hesitated for a beat, then nodded. "Sure. This way."

The ship wasn't overly large, being courier class, and only lightly armed for her tonnage. Tony could see she had well above average amounts of armour and shielding, though. That, he approved of. It would be helpful in a wide variety of situations ranging from skirmishes to magnetic storms or solar flares, and was a very practical investment to make for a ship going on scientific expeditions. The downside was that everything inside the ship had to be that little bit smaller, and the engine correspondingly larger to compensate for the extra mass the armour and shielding added. It had to prevent the ship from losing maneuverability or speed, after all, both of which were extremely important as long as they were inside a gravity well.

Barnes’ apparent disinclination to speak also meant the tour didn't take more than five minutes to complete, though that was partially also because Barnes didn't seem to be feeling very talkative. Galley, armoury, lab space, communal bathing facilities, the tiny maintenance bay, engine room, bridge, and storage almost seemed to whip past, and then he was standing at Barnes' shoulder as the Sergeant pointed out the crew's quarters. Rogers, as captain, rated his own bunk, lucky bastard. The rest of them had to share.

"Now," Barnes cleared his throat, "since Agent Carter's also aboard for this one, we had to shuffle things around a little. She gets her own room. None 'a us is crazy enough to try to make her share. But that means you'll, uh, be bunking with me."

That was the most Barnes had said in one breath on the short tour, so far, and the fact was almost enough to distract Tony from--

"Oh."

Barnes gave him a confused and slightly hurt look. "Oh?"

"Well, that's not a big deal," Tony managed to scrape together the words to reply. "I thought you were working up to saying something you thought would offend me or I don't know."

"Good."

Tony privately thought Barnes didn't look overly relieved to hear that sentence come out of his mouth, and his heart sank a little. "Well, if you'd rather bunk with one of your team, that's fine, too," he added.

"No, no," Barnes hastily protested, "it's... I'm just used to sharing a bunk with Steve, and I've barely met you."

Seeming to appear out of thin air, Rogers leaned against the wall and put in with a smirk, "You never minded sharing with Dr. Banner, when he was aboard."

Barnes gave his Captain a poisonous glare that might have killed a lesser man. Rogers shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"I get it, new unknown variable," Tony said, not wanting to be the cause of a disagreement before he'd been aboard ship ten minutes. "Just tell me where to put my stuff, so I can go get to know the labs a little."

Captain and Sergeant seemed to spring apart like they'd been stung, for all that Barnes was the only one moving.

"Uh, of course. Just down this corridor, second door on the left. My bunk has my stuff on it. Other one's yours," Barnes replied, then physically hauled Rogers farther down the corridor and into what Tony assumed had to be the captain's quarters. The door slid shut behind them with a hiss, and all Tony could do was stare at it for a moment, baffled. "Okay, then?" he said to no one.

The indicated door opened near silently at his touch and he stepped in. The room, as Barnes had indicated, only looked lived in on one side. The other was neatly made and the locker at the foot of the bed stood open, empty. Tony didn't bother unpacking. He simply dropped his bag on the bed and headed back out of the room and toward the labs.

This was going to be a long trip.


	2. Chapter 2

Watching the planet's surface gain in detail as they approached, Tony took some mental notes. Did some math. They knew little about the place beyond what was visible to the instruments on SHIELD's space HQ. The station boasted quality equipment, so they had information about the planet's composition (Mars-like, but with a higher concentration of silica at the surface rendering it pinkish rather than rust red), its atmosphere (almost nonexistent, and what little there was, was inert gases like Nitrogen), and its physical dimensions. They knew how strong its gravity well was -- slightly less than that of Earth -- and that it had two moons, rather than the one they were used to. They knew the radius and character of its orbit around its star, and its speed of rotation.

They knew a lot of things. But not the important stuff.

No one had expected there to be life on Mars. It had been clear that the red planet was just that little bit too far outside of what could be considered suitable temperature ranges and soil composition to support any Terran life forms.

This place, though. It was possible that there could be some kind of life here. It was slightly warmer than Earth, and its sun slightly older, but the conditions were promising. The biggest barrier, should humanity decide to try to settle the place, would be the extremely oxygen-poor atmosphere.

A footfall behind him pulled him out of his thoughts, and, recognising the tread, Tony bit down on his irritated growl. "Agent Carter," he greeted her formally.

"Mr. Stark," she returned in kind, stopping next to him and staring out at the planet's surface, much like he'd been. "Credit for your thoughts."

He gave her a sardonic half-smile. "They're not that interesting. Wondering what's in store for us down there. Now, and in the nebulous future."

Peggy nodded. "That's about what I expected to hear, honestly."

"Then why ask?" 

She turned just enough to look at him, as she replied, "You have a habit of surprising people."

"And is that good or bad?" Tony turned back to the view.

"That, my friend, will depend on whom you ask. I think it's good for you and those around you," Peggy said lightly, her tone belying the seriousness of her words.

"Hah. Sure." Tony scoffed. "I'll believe that when I see statistically significant proof. There are a few things I've learned over the years, Agent Carter," he said, not looking away from the looming planet's surface. "Nothing good lasts forever, no one stays around me for long, and it's not worth wishing for more."

"Cynical words, coming from a futurist. I thought you believed in the innate worth of the human race, and its drive to reach for the stars. That life was worth living and improving."

"Are you saying I'm not allowed to be contradictory?" he asked her, trying not to show how her words cut with their truth.

Rolling her eyes at him audibly, she shot back, "You can do as you like, but get your head out of your ass."

"Huh?" He hadn't expected that.

"You've been avoiding Barnes for days. Is there a reason for that we'd accept, or are you just trying to avoid letting yourself admit you like him?" Peggy demanded, making him wince.

He'd come to expect that kind of blunt take-no-prisoners approach from Rogers. He probably should have expected it from their captain's girlfriend. The two of them truly were a matched set.

He turned to face her fully, squaring his shoulders and catching her eyes. "I'm not sure what you're implying, but I don't appreciate it. I may not be great at relationships or friendships, but I am not a cruel person. Nor do I enjoy the way it hurts when those I consider friends just vanish on me. I'd rather not get too invested and avoid unnecessarily going through that. Again."

Peggy sniffed, offended. "And you think so little of us?"

Tony shrugged. "I've known you, all of you, for ten days."

"That's a fair point," she conceded, and turned to leave again. "But think over your stance. I doubt you'll be rid of any of this team anytime soon, if only because Steve is likely to request you be permanently assigned to us. And I have no doubt Barnes is the biggest factor in that decision."

Then, having dropped that little bomb on him, she smirked and left.

All Tony could do was stare after her, stunned.

Rogers wanted to offer him a permanent assignment? Because of _Bucky_?

The rest of the team had made good impressions on him, but, Tony had to admit, Bucky had exerted the strongest pull on him. He'd felt more than once like the pair of them were a pair of binary stars, spiraling ever closer, ever faster, on an explosive collision course.

Of course, the fact that Peggy had chosen to speak up now, right before they were due to make planetary orbit in preparation for their landing and expeditions, was intentional. Hell, it was fucking strategic. He was as sure of that fact as he was that he had two hands and ten fingers. She had some kind of motive, for all that Tony had no idea what it was. Sure, it might be that she wanted to shove them closer than just separate bunks in the same room. It might be that she wanted to maneuver him into making a move.

Or it might be that she wanted to warn him off doing that until Rogers could make his posting more permanent.

Shaking his head to clear it, Tony decided to head back to his lab. He'd checked over all the instruments and supplies so many times he could probably do it in his sleep, but once more couldn't hurt. 

When Rogers appeared, with Bucky in tow, a few minutes later, Tony had the sudden feeling that he'd been shoved into a trap whose jaws were closing around him.

"Hey, Stark," Rogers called out to him, "dinner's on the table, come join us."

Tony was tempted to refuse, but Peggy's words rang true the moment he considered it. He threw a glance around the space. "Why not. I'm between projects right now, anyway."

Rogers looked pleased, "Come on, then. Before the others eat it all and leave us nothing but scraps."

"That's happened before?" Tony eyed him, mock-skeptical. "Thought you were strong enough to stake a claim."

"Strength means nothing if you ain't fast enough to get to where you haveta apply it," Bucky said archly, and damned if Tony could disagree. "Yeah, it's happened a few times. You don't want to see Steve get hungry and snappish. Trust me."

"Peg'd save me some," Rogers informed his Sergeant with a shrug as they came up on the galley door and the chaos beyond.

"No, she'd egg the others on, just to see what happened," Bucky disagreed.

"Of course I would," Peggy answered, clearly not caring what that had been in reference to. "Sit down."

Steve obeyed without a word, settling next to her and looking at her like he worshipped the floor she walked on. Bucky rolled his eyes at his friend, but followed suit, claiming one of the two remaining open spots, opposite Dumdum. The last, obviously meant for Tony, was next to Bucky. Of course.

Subtle, Peggy.

Before he could protest, Morita leaned his chair back without bothering to stand and reached for the plates of food sitting, already prepared, on the nearby countertop. One landed in front of Rogers, then Bucky, and then him, all in quick succession. Flatware followed.

"Eat up, Tony," Morita suggested, as he handed out plates and flatware to the rest of the team, stating the obvious. "We're going planetside tomorrow."

Dumdum nodded. "It'll be nice to get off this tin can for a while, even if we will need exo-suits to do it."

"Man, you said it," Gabe chimed in. "Travelling around is always the tedious part of these missions."

"You getting bored, Jones?" Bucky asked their navigator, tone a hair too innocent.

"Hell no," he shot back, sensing the trap himself, "but I am sick of starin' at your ugly mug."

Rogers exchanged a glance with Peggy that seemed to encompass several conversations before he turned to Tony.

Tony froze. He knew that, whatever was going to come out of Rogers' mouth would be designed to maneuver him into whatever position Peggy wanted.

"Hey, Tony," he opened, "you're not getting tired of our mugs, are you?"

That was too ambiguous, too open, for him to predict what was coming next. Tony gave in. "Not yet, why? Ready to be rid of me?"

The comment got him surprised looks from nearly everyone at the table and a couple of bitten off protests, but Rogers never missed a beat. "More the opposite."

Peggy caught his eyes with a look that held more than a hint of carbon steel. It screamed _think before you answer_ louder than her words had, earlier.

Despite that, he was caught off guard. "I... what?"

Bucky was staring at his captain, incredulous. "Are you suggestin' what I think you are, Rogers?"

"If you think I'm hinting that we need a techie we can count on, that's permanently on crew, that gets along with everyone aboard, and knows his stuff? Then, yeah, that's exactly what I meant."

Tony groped blindly for his glass of water and took a gulp of it before he cleared his throat. "I'm flattered, Rogers, but I'm no biologist."

Rogers outright laughed at him. "You say that as if it mattered at all. Anything you're not confident in, we can ship back to SHIELD HQ or directly to Dr. Banner's lab, and I've seen just how good you are with computers and engines. That's an asset no one else on this team brings right now. And we can still borrow a biologist from HQ if it’s mission critical. You in or not?"

Tony glanced around the table, seeing nothing but tension and anticipation in the Commandos' faces. Bucky's expression was the worst, for the carefully repressed hope in his eyes.

"Well, you're the captain," Tony said after a few seconds. "I guess that means you get to make the calls on who you want aboard, and I'm not against it. But don't expect anything to change."

They'd clashed more than a few times in the past week over chain of command, authority, and similar militaristic ideas of hierarchy.

Rogers nodded. "That's settled, then. I'll let Director Fury know you've decided to accept."

Bucky gaped at his captain. "Wait just a damned minute. Steve, did you _plan this before we left base_?"

Morita cackled, gleeful, as he realised just what had happened. "Devious, captain."

"Glad you approve," Rogers grinned at him, pleased with himself and the outcome.

"Now one more matter remains," Peggy stepped in.

Monty quirked an eyebrow at her, getting a nod in reply. Satisfied with that, the comms officer leaned back in his chair, looking like he wanted some popcorn.

Tony was pretty sure he knew what was coming. It was like watching a ship wreck.

"What's that, Peg?" Bucky asked, taking the bait as she'd intended him to.

Her smile cued Bucky in, though. It started out as just a quirk of her lips and grew until it was an edged expression of glee. "The way you and Tony have been dancing around one another like a pair of skittish cats circling a bowl of food," she replied. "Get your acts together and talk, for heaven's sake."

"No kidding," Gabe agreed. "It was kinda funny at first. Now it's just getting sad."

"It's clear you both feel the same way," Monty put in, giving Peggy a nod. "Do us a favor and figure it out before we have to go planet-side. None of us needs that distraction in a hostile environment."

Tony gave in to the urge to bury his face in his hands and groan.

A hesitant hand on his shoulder made him look up. "They might be assholes," Bucky said, ignoring the protests that statement got, "but they have a point. Come on. This calls for a little privacy."

The walk back to their shared bunk felt like it blurred, and then the doorway loomed in front of him. Suddenly nervous, Tony nearly balked. He had to take a steadying breath before he followed Bucky through.

In the relative gloom of the small room, Bucky moved slowly and carefully, arranging himself cross-legged on his bed, leaning against the wall, and gesturing for Tony to sit on his own, across from him.

A short silence reigned. Tony waited Bucky out, determined not to break first.

Eventually, Bucky rubbed at the back of his neck and grumbled something under his breath that Tony didn't quite catch. "I never used to be bad at this," he said on a sigh with a rueful smile. "But I know what's different."

"What's that?" Tony prompted him, wanting to know the answer.

"It's more important to me." Bucky shrugged, as though that didn't mean the world. "Short version of a long story: are you remotely interested, as Peggy implied? I can and will stifle this if I have to."

But it would _hurt_ , Tony read between the lines. "If, hypothetically, I was, what happens next?"

The words made Bucky jerk, startled, and give him a wide-eyed stare. After a long few seconds he shook off the surprise long enough to admit, "Uh. Hadn't thought that far ahead? But off the cuff, it'd probably be smart not to start anything until we're on our way back. Give us some time to get used to the idea of, well, us... and there'd be less distractions while we've got boots on the ground."

"And build up the tension?" Tony eyed Bucky askance. "I'm not sure that'd be _less_ of a distraction."

Bucky huffed at him, smiling. "Be that as it may. I'm not sayin' we should keep our hands off, or anythin' dumb like that. But, just. Let's save the touchin' for when we're in here and the involved stuff for the trip back to HQ."

"Guess that's reasonable." Tony considered Bucky for a beat, then stood, and hesitated.

Bucky stood to join him, and suddenly the room felt a lot smaller. "Tony?"

"Yeah?" Tony had to swallow back the rest of the words threatening to pour out of him.

"You never actually answered my question. Are you interested?" Bucky reached out for him slowly, giving him time to duck out of the way or block.

"If you had any idea how long I've held myself back, you wouldn't ask a stupid question like that," Tony told him. "I'm sure as hell not turning you down. Not when I've been wondering what those hands of yours can do."

"My hands, huh?" Bucky looked intrigued. A smile took hold that couldn't quite decide whether it was pleased, turned on, or impish. "What about the rest of me?"

"We'll get to that next month," Tony pointed out. "You just said we should take it slow."

"I'm startin' to regret that."

Tony would have replied, but someone knocked at their door, making them both turn towards it. "You two want any food before lights out, now's the time," Rogers informed them, his voice muffled slightly by the steel and plastic between them. "You didn't eat much before you ran off, so I'd suggest you do get some grub. Long day tomorrow."

With a put-upon sigh, Bucky stepped away from him, and Tony immediately felt the loss. "I hate to admit it, but he's right about that. We'll pick this back up later."

"You know," Tony said thoughtfully, "we'll never hear the end of this."

"So? That bother you, sweetheart?" Bucky caught his eyes, evidently surprised that this was a concern. Or something.

"Hmm, yes and no. I might have to exact some subtle revenge," Tony replied, not sure yet what he would do, but certain that he needed to do something, lest the rest of the ship's crew get far too full of themselves.

The surprise turned to anticipation. "I like this plan. I'm in. But food first."

"Eh, I could eat," Tony agreed. "Better hope they left us any."

"If not, we'll just have to dip into the stores and make up something fresh. I ain't going to try to sleep on an empty stomach." Bucky declared, opening the door and stepping out into the corridor.

Morita happened to be about to enter his room, which he shared with Monty. "You kidding me, Barnes? You think we'd do that and risk Peggy taking us apart?"

Tony, stepping out behind Bucky, nodded sagely. "Fair," he commented, then walked past them.

Dumdum was still in the galley when he entered the space, standing in the small food preparation area and doing dishes. "You two got things straightened out?" he asked, not looking up from loading the dirty plates and flatware into the sonic scrubber.

Bucky glanced at Tony and smirked. "I think so," he said, and grabbed for plates and flatware for himself and Tony, getting as far as setting them down next to the pot of spaghetti before Dumdum caught his attention and pointed to the table with his chin.

"Your plates are still there, Barnes," he said gruffly. "Finish that first."

"Sure, whatever." Without a word, Bucky put the things back away, and dropped down into his seat.

Tony followed him and picked up his flatware. He got as far as taking his first bite before a hand slid up his leg, starting from the knee and teasing at the inseam of his pantleg, and almost choked on his food.

Bucky gave him an innocent look, and Tony almost regretted making that comment about his hands. Almost.

Two could play that game. After his next bite he made sure to catch Bucky's eyes and hold them as he ever so slowly and teasingly drew the fork back out of his mouth with a pleased hum. "Not sure which one of you cooked," he commented, making sure they had Dumdum's attention so Bucky couldn't retaliate, "but it's tastier than usual."

Dumdum chuckled, turning to face them and leaning back against the countertop casually, pretending he didn't know what was going on and wasn't enjoying it to the hilt. "Rogers, actually. Though Carter helped."

Tony had to smirk at the mix of admiration and frustration on Bucky's face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here there be smut. ;)

After they'd finished their meals, Tony had decided it was high time he finished the data analysis that had been on his desk for the last 36 hours. He'd gotten it started, but never quite gotten everything fully plotted out and visualised.

Unsurprisingly, Bucky had chosen to follow him there, an expression tugging at his features that hinted at more than a little bit of mayhem. Tony was kind of looking forward to it, but he did need to get his data fixed up so that the less technically savvy of the team could read it and make sense of it. Which meant that the odds were good Bucky would tease and distract him.

It was a good thing that plotting data was something he could more or less do in his sleep. Most of what he needed to do was normalise the numbers to a scale that made sense for all the available data sets, colorise it, then map it out and overlay it on the maps of the planet's surface that he'd taken at the same time.[1]

As they walked into what was now officially his lab, Tony heard Bucky pause to shut and lock the door, but didn't acknowledge the move. He moved over to his holographic interface and tapped at it to wake it up. The large room was mostly empty floor space, surrounding a central console and a large attached lab bench. There were more lab benches lining the walls of the room, each with their own dedicated instrument sitting quietly atop its black surface, waiting to be called into service. A tall stack of drawers served as storage space for things like supplies, and stood near the front of the room beside the wide double doors.

Bucky crossed the room without a word to step up behind him at his workstation. "You are a tease," he growled, sending a shiver up Tony's spine.

"Like you're any better," Tony riposted. "I've gotta finish this. You can get your revenge later."

"Oh, if you think I'm waiting that long, you've got another think comin'," Bucky told him, inflection so flat it was like he was stating that the Earth was an oblate spheroid. Stating the obvious factual truth.

Tony caught his eyes and raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, you can go ahead and give yourself a hand, if you want, but I'm going to be here, working."

Bucky huffed, mock-offended, and let Tony see the laughter in his eyes. "After all that you'd deny me the pleasure of your company?" 

"Damn right. I have my priorities straight," Tony said archly. "And that means not letting you distract me from finishing the technical part of the mission brief for tomorrow."

"In that case," Bucky grinned, leaning in to plant a mostly-chaste kiss on him, "I'm going to help myself to a chair, and you're going to narrate what you're doing."

"Really? Data analysis does it for you, Barnes?" Tony snickered.

"Mmm, not that so much as your voice," Bucky admitted. "Don't matter what it is you're sayin'."

Oh, he was _definitely_ going to have to take ruthless advantage of that, later, if Bucky was being serious. Tony cleared his throat. For now, he could settle for dragging out plotting this data and talking Bucky through every last detail. "We'll see how you feel about that in an hour."

Actually going through with this would test his resolve and make it very difficult to keep his focus on his work, but there was nothing about this little experiment that didn't appeal to him right now.

With a mental shrug, Tony shook out his hands, queued up his usual working music -- albeit at a lower volume than he normally preferred, so he wouldn't need to shout -- and opened up the first set of scan data.

He got about a sentence into explaining what it was before the rasp of a zipper almost made him stumble to a stop. He'd known Bucky wasn't kidding, but the knowledge that this was actually happening was going to make him combust long before they got to actually putting their hands on one another. If nothing else, the mental image of Bucky sitting there in his mess dress, olive drab from head to toe, prim and proper except for the part of him that was definitely ready for action, was going to be seared into his memory, and Tony knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would always get him going.

Hell, Bucky in his mess dress pretty much did anyway. The way those pants clung lovingly to the curves of his ass and the jacket showed off his broad shoulders was already enough to catch his interest. But add in a bit of a thrill in the form of some illicit masturbation and, wow. The idea that Bucky would end up coming all over that lovely uniform and ruining it, if he wasn't very careful, was...

Clearing his throat, Tony tried again. "So first I have to plot out everything," he started, "toss all the data sets on a projection of the surface map we imaged during our orbit. It's only going to extend from about 55 degrees above the equatorial plane to 45 degrees below, but it'll do for a first survey."

Bucky made a quiet sound and the chair creaked under him as he shifted his weight. Tony could tell he wasn't actively trying to get off yet. "Hey, Tony, got any lube in here?" he asked a beat later, derailing Tony's train of thought spectacularly.

"Nothing body-safe," he replied once he'd processed the question. "You'll just have to deal with using spit or something, if you want lube."

"Well, I ain't doing this dry."

"No one said you had to do it here and now. You could've waited until you were back in your bunk," Tony pointed out, continuing to work his data sets. "Figure it out for yourself. I'm going to keep doing what I planned to do."

Bucky grumbled something under his breath. "If you're tryin' to make me have second thoughts, it ain't workin'," he said.

Tony heard the sound of the chair's wheels as Bucky sent it rolling across the lab to a set of drawers Tony hadn't bothered emptying yet. They were filled with an assortment of random junk Banner had left lying around that he hadn't gotten around to disposing of. Bucky had sniffed it out in the first day or so that Tony had been aboard, and laughed at his apparent disdain for the biological sciences.

The contents of the drawers rattled and shifted as Bucky dug through them, more patiently than Tony had expected he might, considering he was sitting in a chair in a climate controlled lab with his cock out.

The thought made him realise that the whole scenario was getting him riled up again. He'd managed to calm himself down a little after the teasing that had ensued in the galley, but now...

He had to close his eyes against the image his mind painted, and force himself not to look over. He didn't need that kind of temptation. Not right now. This was hard enou-- difficult enough as it was.

Taking a deep steadying breath and holding it, Tony tried to pull his focus back to his data. Bucky distracted him handily by making a pleased sound.

"Hah! I knew he kept some lotion in here," Bucky said, and flicked open the cap of the bottle, to squirt some into his hand. "Banner was constantly griping about the skin on his knuckles splitting and bleeding."

Tony had wondered why that had turned up in a lab, when keeping anything like that in such a space was against just about every regulation. "Take it with you when you leave," he suggested, shaking his head at the banality of the reason for its presence.

"True," Bucky agreed, rolling the chair to a position about a meter or so behind Tony and to his right, "We might need it later."

The knowledge that Bucky was _right there_ , teasing him right back with his presence and the boldness of his actions, very nearly made his self control snap like an over stressed steel cable.

Sure that if he tried to speak it would come out as a croak, Tony cleared his throat before he went on. "Anyway, as I was saying."

"Yeah, sweetheart," Bucky put in and Tony could hear the smirk in his voice, "dazzle me with science."

Suddenly _aware_ of Bucky, of the smell of the lotion and Bucky himself, of the slight slick sounds of his hand moving on his cock, Tony had to swallow back a whimper. He pointed out the various non-normalised plots on his interface. "So we've got overlay plots for concentrations of water, silicon, carbon dioxide, iron, chlorine, sulfur, potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus. All commonly found in both planets and life forms of varying natures."

"Mmm," Bucky hummed, more to acknowledge that Tony had spoken than anything. "Go on."

"They all have different scales right now, but I'm gonna fix that," he replied. "When I'm done with these, they'll be converted from intensity values to weight percent per cubic meter, and then I'll plot those on a consistent scale."

Bucky groaned, and Tony heard the speed of his hand pick up. "Yeah?" he asked sounding just ever so slightly breathless. "Why's that better, 'zactly?"

Tony wanted nothing more than to turn around and sit in Bucky's lap, drape himself over Bucky's torso, and take over. To have those hands on him instead. To make Bucky come all over his own clothes and know that anyone who saw him would give him hell about it pretty much until the end of time.

"Well, it's easier to compare values when you have a common scale," Tony answered simply. He could hear the slight rasp in his own voice, but refused to acknowledge it. "There are other ways to scale data like this, based on things like atomic percentage and so on, but the relative abundance will be most helpful to us when we're on the ground."

"Wanna get you on the ground," Bucky mumbled, "put my hands all over you. Get you worked up until you're dripping and can't remember your own name."

The very thought almost made Tony's knees buckle. He had to grab at the edge of his workstation to steady himself, and he was a lot more than half hard after imagining it. "I'll hold you to that, but we've got a job to do." 

Fuck but this was testing his self-control to the limits.

Bucky threw back his head and took a gasped breath, sounding like he was coming up for air after a dive in HQ's pool. It was used primarily for underwater training, useful on certain planetary expeditions, but Tony knew for a fact that it saw a lot of recreational use as well.

Shaking his head to clear it and carefully avoiding letting himself touch the front of his pants lest he lose his grip on his control entirely, Tony decided to keep talking. "That job, Bucky, means creating the graphics that will let me explain the planetary crust composition to the survey crew and help keep them safe." 

"Sure," Bucky grunted, "don't care right now."

"Getting close, are you?" Tony wanted _so badly_ to turn and watch Bucky come. Watch him topple over the edge he was riding and white out on the pleasure of it all.

"Ngh. Been close," he gritted out. "But it's always better... oh shit... if I wait a bit."

The slick sounds of Bucky's hand stopped for a long ten seconds or so, but Tony could still hear him breathing deep and fast.

Well, then.

"So the next thing I've gotta do," he went on, "is a bunch of calculations based on the literal physical scale of the pixels in my maps, here."

Bucky's breath hitched. "What for?"

"Gotta convert from the intensity data to cubic meters or maybe cubic hectares before I can work out the scaling factors for each plot, based on the raster detail offered by the spectrometer."

The sound of Bucky touching himself started up again, and Tony felt a flash of heat rush through him, seeming to boil up out of the pit of his stomach to spread through him all the way to his toes and the tips of his fingers. He shivered, full body, then hastily suited actions to words, taking the time to do that for each of the nine plots and then wait for the images to update.

"Okay. And then?" Bucky asked him, voice slightly strained.

"And then, I'm nearly done." Tony replied, just to hear Bucky groan again. "Just a few finishing touches."

"Good, so'm I," he said.

Goddamn, he was going to have to walk back to their bunk with an erection so obvious it was impossible to hide. Tony fought not to let that knowledge make him harder, and failed. The thrill of doing this out in the open -- obviously one Bucky seemed to share -- never quite faded.

He needed to finish those plots so he could _deal with this_ , and he needed to do it now. Shit. Tony took a breath and felt it hitch, catching in his throat on the way in. "Just a couple of details left to take care of," he said, doing his best to make it sound careless and calm, knowing Bucky had to be able to see right through the pretense. "Gotta label all the axes and the major geological features. Then I can send them off to our good Captain for review and--"

"--and let me help you out," Bucky interrupted him.

That in no way ran counter to what Tony wanted, so he shrugged. "If that's what you want."

"If you..." Bucky broke off for a second. "If you think I don't, oh god, you're in for a surprise."

Tony managed to scrape together enough breath for a chuckle. "Maybe I like surprises," he said, rushing through his last task but carefully not hitting 'send' just yet. "And maybe I want to hear you come all over yourself."

That must have caught Bucky off guard, because he jumped, sending the chair rolling backwards, and made a keening sound at the back of his throat. "Oh! _Oh yeah_ , Tony!"

Swallowing against the the way his throat tried to close, Tony shuddered in reaction and felt his fists clench until they went nearly bloodless. "Yeah? Good?"

Bucky hummed, a very languid and satisfied note. "Definitely. You done here?"

He couldn't turn and look. Not yet. Just one more thing. He just had to hang on long enough to check the axis labels. "Almost," he rasped. "Always gotta proofread things before you mail them."

A pair of warm hands, one still smelling strongly of the damned lotion, landed on his flanks and Tony all but came out of his skin with a yelp. 

"Feeling a bit jumpy?" Bucky teased him, and fucking mother of all that was holy, Tony could smell the come on his new boyfriend’s skin, too. He was pretty sure Bucky had just very deliberately marked him up.

"You need to clean up," he replied, deciding not to address that very possessive move just yet, "or the whole ship will know what you've been up to."

"What I need," Bucky corrected him, his hands starting to slide around to Tony's front and down, down, "is to get my hands all over you, and _then_ clean up."

Tony wished he had a handy wall to rest his forehead against. "But I'm not--"

"Hurry up and get it done, then."

Swearing under his breath, sure Bucky could hear every word, Tony hurried. He half-assedly checked to make sure the labels on the plots corresponded to the correct data set, then decided to call it close enough and sent them off to Rogers. Let the Captain worry about them now, he had better things to do.

"Good," Bucky praised him, voice rumbling in his chest as he spoke the words. He leaned in to bury his nose in the hair behind Tony's ear, and inhale deeply. "You smell amazing."

Tony had to roll his eyes. "If you're not planning to get me off in the next thirty seconds or so," he warned his boyfriend, "I'm going to do it myself."

Bucky had the gall to laugh at him. "C'mon, then," he replied, running the fingers of one hand teasingly over the bulge at the front of Tony's pants. "Let's get ourselves a bit of privacy."

For the briefest instant, Tony was torn between giving in and demanding satisfaction right then and there, and retreating to their bunk. Despite knowing that if Rogers had any questions about the graphs he'd show up at the lab first. "I want a hell of a lot more than that," he warned, "and you'd better be prepared to deliver."

"Sweetheart," Bucky said with a laugh, "you showed me a damned good time, and I intend to return the favor. So pick up your feet and march."

Helpless to resist, Tony nodded and reached down to adjust himself so that his clothes would rub a little less and it wouldn't be as horribly obvious just why he was walking a bit stiffly. It was well and truly a good thing that their shared bunk was nearby. If he'd had to attempt to go more than those fifteen meters to get what he wanted, Tony probably would have just jumped Bucky on the spot and to hell with possibly getting caught.

Squaring his shoulders he pulled away from the touches that were starting to send fire dancing along his nerve endings already. That was going to end badly if anyone stumbled across them -- which was pretty likely on a ship this small.

The only real consolation right now was that Bucky looked even more debauched than he did. Not that anyone aboard would ever believe that Tony hadn't been involved in whatever had gotten him to that state. And they'd be right, he admitted to himself with a hint of a smile as he unlocked the door.

Bucky was maybe a half step behind him, at most, staying as close as he could without stepping Tony's heels or getting their feet tangled together.

"You better hope no one sees us," Tony told him.

"I couldn't care less right now." Bucky ran a hand daringly up the length of Tony's spine, from just above his ass right to the nape of his neck, as they walked, somehow managing to do it without missing a beat.

Shaking his head at Bucky, mock disapproving, he asked, "And what would Agent Carter say?"

"She'd probably tell me to get the hell in my bunk and take you with me," came the reply.

Damn him, Bucky was almost certainly right about that, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] So. First things first, a hectare is 10,000 square meters or just a bit less than 2.5 acres.
> 
> To get an idea of what these charts look like, you can see [some examples of IRL scans](https://grs.lpl.arizona.edu/grs-web/latestresults.jsp) done by the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona. These are done by analyzing data collected using a [gamma ray spectrometer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_Ray_Spectrometer_\(2001_Mars_Odyssey\)).
> 
> I decided to base my own technobable on the information offered [on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_Mars), but I took a bunch of information from NASA's [Mars Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html), too.
> 
> And, yes, this is also more or less how you would go about analysing a dataset like the one I'm referencing. There are all kinds of details that have to do with things like orders of magnitude and so on that I'm leaving out for the sake of readability, but the broad outlines are there. Click here to return to text.


	4. Chapter 4

Luckily for them, no one knocked on the door of their bunk. At least, not that Tony noticed.

Then again, he had been quite preoccupied for what had turned out to be several hours.

When he'd eventually gotten up the motivation to get out of the bed and take stock of the damage to his appearance -- about an hour before they were scheduled to meet for the briefing on their first planetary survey run -- what he'd found had made him groan. Bucky had laughed at his dismay. "Goddamn, Barnes," he'd grumbled at his entirely unrepentant boyfriend -- the thought still gave him a bit of a thrill -- and resolved to return the favor next time. He had livid hickeys and bite marks scattered all over his neck and shoulders and no way to disguise them.

"It's not like anyone aboard doesn't know we're together," Bucky pointed out. "They'll cope, and so will you."

"What they'll do, Bucky, is give us both hell over it." Tony retorted, then bent to dig through his foot locker for his undersuit knits. He wasn't about to bother getting in his uniform just so that he could take it back off after the briefing.

After a few seconds, Bucky climbed to his feet and took the two steps over to plaster himself to Tony's back, running his hands over the bare skin he could reach. "Probably. But we both knew that would happen. They already do."

It took a bit of self control that reminded Tony strongly of their experiment in the lab, but they managed to dress without falling back into bed to devour one another again.

They got knowing looks from everyone the moment they walked into the small conference room aboard, but no one commented on his appearance. Peggy gave him a decisive nod, and smirked. "Good," was all she said. 

"Alright, listen up," Rogers called for their attention. "Based on our initial scans, this planet appears to be mostly uninhabited. The only real concentration of elements corresponding to possible life forms is here," he pointed at a yellow-orange-red blob that appeared on all of the plots simultaneously, between 25 and 35 degrees above the ecliptic and covering an area of at least a hundred square kilometers near the very western end of the map. "What this means for us is that we land the ship at the far eastern end of the map and look around in the empty areas first, working our way from east to west, until we've mapped out the rest of the area in detail. That means noting any subsurface mineral deposits, evidence of tectonic activity, possible hazards, and so on. Standard survey operation. Once we finish that, we'll compare notes and send a brief back to HQ before we get to the possibly inhabited regions. At that point, we'll discuss and choose the best approach for charting the area. If we find any evidence that there are sentient locals, that will mean classifying the planet as off-limits to any and all commercial operations until we can find a way to translate. Any questions?"

No one spoke up. Tony found he didn't really have anything to add, either.

Rogers waited the customary five seconds, then grinned. "Then suit up. We're green."

The next three weeks passed uneventfully. The team split up, paired off, and started working their way through their assigned quadrants. The work was slow and tedious, but even so it was never quite the same twice. Tony found himself very glad for the integrated systems on their tech, which let them directly drop markers for things like mineral deposits on the maps he'd generated before they'd begun.

He'd only managed to get down to hectare resolution though, so anything that fell within the same 100 meter by 100 meter area simply got marked on the same map pixel. There was nothing for it.

Of course, Rogers and Carter had decided that he and Bucky needed to be paired off, leaving them effectively alone together for days on end but simultaneously making sure they couldn't do more than look or talk throughout those days. They did return to their ship for the night cycle to rest, but there was little opportunity for them to touch and explore, what with the way they had no choice but to dive right back into the work the moment they'd finished their morning meals.

They'd had to make do with a few lingering touches and sleeping in the same bunk, and that had been enough of a tease that Tony was really starting to feel the strain of keeping his hands to himself. To have a boyfriend but no opportunity to get to know him beyond the intellectual? That was one of the most frustrating things Tony had ever experienced.

He'd voiced the sentiment to Bucky a few times and gotten a smile and a shrug in response. "I know how you feel, sweetheart," Bucky had replied each time, sounding like he was repeating something he told himself over and over, "but we gotta hold back. If we're not alert on survey, that could mean injuries or worse. So come to bed and let's enjoy what we've got."

Then, what had felt like an eternity later, Rogers paused after their morning meal to address them all. "This is it. Starting today we'll be breaking new ground. Anyone have concerns that need to be addressed?"

"If we do find some kind of sentient creature, what's the protocol?" Tony asked him. That hadn't been previously covered.

"Standard meet and greet, if we can get them to believe we don't intend to harm them or stay," Rogers replied. "If they attack, we retreat to the ship and phone home. Any injuries we'll deal with aboard ship, unless they're life-threatening."

"We haven't seen anything living anywhere else on this ball of rock and ice," Dumdum put in. "I'm betting there isn't anything."

"I suppose we'll see shortly, Dugan," Peggy told him. "I wouldn't bet on it, personally."

Dumdum gave her a sardonic look. "We may not be wagering with money, Carter, but we're risking our lives. That's worth hedging our bets, if you ask me."

Rogers cleared his throat. "We're getting off-topic. Anything else?"

Everyone shook their heads and stood, scattering to prepare themselves for the day ahead. Tony, already in his undersuit, as was becoming his habit, hung back and waited until Bucky stood up before he moved. They were the last two-man team out of the room, and then also the last out through the airlock.

Tony took a moment to look around them properly. It was one of the last times he would be here, with his boots on the ground. The distant pink mountains, the deep blue of the sky that shaded into purple, the pair of moons that hung in the sky... the whole scene was so alien, and yet it had an innate appeal. Tony would definitely miss this place after they left. That was mostly because of the memories attached to it, granted, rather than the views.

He spared a moment to look at Bucky, admiring the figure his boyfriend cut in his custom painted exo-suit. It gleamed in the low reddish light of the star lighting up the surface, and Bucky turned to catch his eyes.

"Tony?" Bucky asked him, catching his eyes with a hint of fond amusement tugging at his lips.

"Yeah?" Tony checked his surveying supplies, using the excuse to keep from looking at his boyfriend for a few seconds.

"You ready to get started?"

He looked up again, and nodded. "When you are."

They had been assigned to survey the southernmost part of the possibly inhabited area, farthest from the ship and least likely to contain anything. Tony suspected Rogers had done that on purpose, though he wasn't sure what the reasoning could have been.

His radio contact with the rest of the Commandos was muted, a murmur in the back of his awareness. He kept the volume turned low until he needed it, so that he could focus on what was in front of him, so the quiet banter and reports of plant life didn't make much of an dent in his concentration.

Well, not until Bucky caught sight of something that was just out of Tony's sight. His boyfriend had better eyes than he did, which was patently unfair. "Tony?"

"Hm?" Tony didn't look up right away, busy marking another map pixel empty.

"What's that on the horizon there?"

"What's what?" Tony put away the map he was updating and looked around.

"On your eleven'o'clock, on the ground. I think it might be one of those plants the others have been discussing." Bucky pointed.

Tony squinted in the indicated direction until he thought he could make out something about half a meter tall and slender, silhouetted against the pink ground. The low contrast of the colors made the plant surprisingly tough to spot, like natural camouflage, which made Tony wonder what the hell it was camouflaging itself from. They'd come across nothing remotely like an animal. The only living things they'd found were these plants. So where were the missing predators? He wasn't into squishy science. That was Bruce's gig. But he knew that much. When a plant tried to adapt to its ecosystem like this, to blend in, there was some kind of pressure that made the change evolutionarily favorable. Otherwise, the thing wouldn't have cared what color it was.

"Let's take a closer look," he suggested, getting a nod from Bucky. "There's nothing else visible in the area. What are the others reporting? I've had the volume down low."

"Fields and fields of the things," Bucky summarised. "I dunno what's different about this one, but it's out here on its own, and that might mean something."

That was a very good point. Tony made a note to take all the readings he could before he got anywhere close to it with his sample kit. "Any reports of other flowers that are out on their own like this?"

"Lemme ask," Bucky asked him, and then cued his mic.

A couple of minutes later, as Tony was about halfway done with his first survey scan with the pocket spectrometer he'd brought along, Bucky caught his attention. "They've found only one other like it," he reported. "We're to keep an eye out for others, as well as the fields that apparently accompany them at a distance."

"How much of a distance?" Tony asked, looking around. "There aren't any in sight."

"A klick, according to Carter. Dumdum reports about 1100 meters."

Well, that explained why he couldn't make them out easily. They were probably also camouflaged, like this one was. Now that he was paying attention, he could pick out several large areas in the distance that were just different enough in color from the rest for him to pick out. "Let me finish my readings, then, and we'll go have a look around over there," he gestured toward the patches of flowers. "Something tells me the difference between these and the others might be important."

Bucky shrugged, exaggerating the movement so that it would be visible through the exo-suit he wore. "You're the expert," he quipped. "I trust your judgment."

Tony winced. "That makes one of us," he muttered. "I'm no biologist."

They were silent for the next few minutes, waiting for the scans Tony was running to complete. Once they did, he cautiously approached the flower and a thought struck him. "Did anyone name these things yet?"

"Nah. That usually happens once we're aboard ship and can double-check it against the genetic database to make sure it's not already known," Bucky replied. "Banner usually does that once we're back in orbit and have a cleaner tight-beam connection to HQ."

That made sense. It would also give him access to the genetic sequencing equipment aboard the ship. What he had available to him here in the field extended to a few tests for standard genetic markers that were common in terrestrial and aquatic life. Plants weren't commonly the only life form found on a planet. In fact, often they were the most common, and therefore it was much more efficient to take samples and analyse them in the ship's lab, all at once. "Okay."

A few seconds passed quietly, and then Bucky added, "Tony? Carter reports that the ones out on their own scan a little differently than the ones that come in fields, but her instrumentation ain't sensitive enough to get the details she needs to really work out how different. She's suggesting you take a few extra samples so that an in-depth scan is possible once we're back aboard ship. Or at HQ, if you'd rather Banner do it."

"Roger that. And I'm pretty sure I can handle running the genome sequencer and the mass spectrometer. It's figuring out what the results mean that I'm less good at, where biological samples are concerned."

The sample kit at his hip was ready to go, and they had one of the loner flowers right at their feet, so Tony got to work. One sample vial at a time, he took small cuttings of everything he could think of: he plucked about ten petals, filled a second vial with the yellow powder at the center of the flower, a third with as many of its tiny leaves as he could gather without crushing them too badly, the next with as big a chunk of the stem as he could fit inside.

Then he uprooted the thing, sad that he had to kill it, but knowing that he needed to get a sample of its root system as well.

What he found was more than a little bit weird. It was like pulling up a plant and then discovering it was a cut flower attached to a string. It didn't have the usual ball of roots that earth plants did and it looked bizarre. 

"Whoa," Bucky commented, after Tony had pulled up a meter and a half of root, "do you reckon that goes all the way back to that field back there and connects to something?"

Tony looked up, sighting along the root, and realised that it did indeed go in exactly that direction. "No idea. But a root system a kilometer long? That's not exactly a common feature."

Bucky shrugged. "So take a coupl'a samples now, and we'll figure out where it leads. Or where it ends."

Not bothering to argue, and genuinely curious now -- if that root system _did_ extend all the way back to the field of flowers in the distance, it might mean they'd discovered some kind of reproductive tactic that these plants used or something else interesting -- Tony did just that. He cut a piece of the root system to match the chunk of stem he'd taken, put it in the sample tube and sealed it up.

Finished, he picked up the end of the root and kept pulling.

Fifty meters later, he had to admit Bucky was probably correct in his guesses. "I'm going to take a few more samples as we walk," he decided. "This is already getting ridiculous, but Bruce will not be happy if I waste this chance."

"Sure, Tony." Bucky chuckled at him. "Maybe every hundred meters or so, then? More might be overkill."

"If I could swing it, I'd just take the entire root with me," Tony replied. "If all I do is take a few small chunks odds are good we'll miss all the interesting bits."

Bucky eyed the fifty meter length of the thing that lay on the ground. "Maybe if we had a reel or two. But tryin'ta carry that back to the ship's goin'ta get real heavy real quick."

Tony sighed, "I know. But I genuinely don't like it when Bruce gets angry."

"So dramatic." Bucky laughed at him. "Fine. Let me see if any of the other teams is done with their sectors. Maybe we can recruit some help carrying this thing."

"You do that. I guess meanwhile I'll start trying to coil it up or something," Tony replied, considering what he'd need to do.

Bucky was right, a reel would be the best option, but the sample bags he'd brought for minerals and other such materials would have to do. There was no way it would fit into the tubes and they needed some way to keep it more or less clean. As it was, he had no idea whether exposing it to light or the planet's atmosphere was going to cause it to degrade, or damage it in some other way. Hell, even just pulling it out of the ground by force was probably hurting it, but they didn't have the tools, time, or energy to dig it up halfway properly.

He ended up pulling at it until he found the end and starting to coil it up laboriously. It took him almost three minutes to wind up the fifty meters they'd pulled up so far, and he couldn't help but extrapolate. An hour and a half to get to the end of this thing? His arms and shoulders threatened to ache just thinking about it.

Bucky would probably be persuaded to help him out with that, though. Tony smirked. He'd have to wait until they were back aboard ship and in their bunk, but that idea had promise.

The rest of the kilometer passed without incident, in a tedious repetitive haze of yanking at the root and coiling it up. When the coil in his hands threatened to grow too large for the sample bag, he cut its end and stuffed it in, numbering the bag, and Bucky started the next coil, trading off with him without needing to be asked.

About halfway through the process, Rogers and Carter joined them, watching in fascination and chatting with Bucky. Tony kept mostly quiet, focused on what he was doing. They acquired Gabe and Monty soon after, while Bucky was taking a turn at coiling up the root. Dernier and Morita were waiting for them near the other end of the thing, which did indeed turn out to be another of those flowers. They took that one whole, cutting it loose from the other two roots it was attached to, and carefully cramming it in the sample bag with the last root section.

By the time they'd finished with that, Tony was aching from his neck to his hips from the unaccustomed movements he'd had to make to uproot the flower.

Catching his eyes, Bucky suggested, "Since we're all done for the day, let's go have our dinners and call it a night. I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm beat."

Rogers nodded. "That's not a bad idea. C'mon, team."


	5. Chapter 5

After their meal, Tony decided he was going to load up the samples he'd taken for sequencing. They could run while he rested and he could have a look at the results first thing in the morning. Rogers and Carter had decided that, since there had been no evidence of sentience on that planet, they would declare the expedition finished a couple of days ahead of schedule. There was no reason for them to linger; they had neither the supplies nor the equipment to do a more detailed survey.

As had become his habit, Bucky followed him into the labs and slouched in what had become 'his' chair. "You gonna be here a while, Tony?" he asked, his tone hinting at some hidden motive.

Tony was fairly sure he knew exactly what said motive was. They hadn't had a chance to do more than cuddle or hold hands a little for the last three weeks. "Not very, no. Maybe..." He eyed the number of samples. "Maybe fifteen minutes?"

"Good." Bucky nodded. "I'll wait here, in that case."

Tony raised an eyebrow at him. "If you expect me to listen to you get off in that chair again," he told his boyfriend, "you're going to have some trouble on your hands."

"That so?" Bucky grinned at him, broad and bright and challenging.

"I expect you to save your energy for later," Tony replied, hearing the lust in his own voice. "I don't care if you want to jerk it, but if you come before we're back in our bunk that's your loss."

Tilting his head in acknowledgment, Bucky huffed at him. "Demanding. Pretty sure for you I could go a second time, but if that's what you want..."

Tony chuckled as he prepared and loaded the first sample. "What I want is to put you through your sorry excuse for a mattress."

The blunt statement made Bucky groan, more than a little bit of urgency in the sound. "Hurry up and finish what you're doing, then. If you're not gonna let me get off in here, don't keep me waiting."

There was only enough time to run two samples during their six hour sleep cycle, so Tony had chosen the chunk of the flower's root and the yellow powdery stuff that resembled pollen. Those would probably give him the most information. And if not, he'd have plenty of time to try the other samples on the trip home to HQ.

Having prepped the sample of the root, Tony popped it into the first of the two sampling bays and sealed it up. A few button presses and the analysis was running.

Turning to repeat the process for the yellow powdery stuff, Tony considered the sample tube for a moment. They didn't have a glove box or any other convenient way to keep the powdery stuff from potentially flying all over the room. The lab's air supply ran on a separate circuit from the rest of the ship's, though, so even if some of the pollen escaped, it wouldn't affect anyone that wasn't in the lab itself.

Tony caught Bucky's eyes. "If you intend to stay here, you need a mask to cover your nose and mouth. If I open this and it gets in the air, you don't want it inside you. We have no idea what havoc it could cause."

Bucky grumbled something under his breath. "So load up a different sample," he suggested, clearly not wanting to bother with a mask.

That wasn't entirely unreasonable, Tony decided. "I guess I could."

He considered the other samples he'd taken, then decided in favor of the petals. They'd be easiest to load into the machine.

Keeping back half of them and enjoying the honey-sweet smell that wafted off the large pink petals, he loaded the second sample into the machine.

The instant he was done, Bucky was pressed up against his back in a long line of heat that Tony could feel through their clothes. The warmth of Bucky's body made him realise that he was feeling almost overheated himself. "Uh," he managed, feeling like his tongue was tied in knots somehow, "Bucky?"

"Hmm?" Bucky responded wordlessly, kissing up the side of his neck.

"We--" Tony's words cut off when Bucky turned him so that they were chest to chest and started sucking a hickey into the skin at the base of his throat. His hands came up without needing a command from his conscious mind to do it, the movement turned autonomic function, threading into Bucky's hair and encouraging him to linger.

Something... something about this was wrong, but everything about it was right.

Deciding to care about it later, Tony felt the keening whine catch high in his throat. "Bucky!"

"Yeah," his boyfriend agreed, and tossed Tony over his broad shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Bed."

That hadn't been what he'd meant, but it was just as good, if not better. The only thing about the position he was in, was that he couldn't touch Bucky like he wanted to. He needed to have his hands all over his boyfriend. Preferably on his skin, but through his clothes would suffice in a pinch. "Bucky, oh god," he hissed between his teeth, "hurry up."

Then, as though conjured, the door of their bunk loomed before them. Bucky hastily unlocked it, stepped through, and relocked it.

Tony approved; he had no wish to be interrupted, either. On the other hand, he definitely wanted to be let down though, now that they had a bit more privacy. "Clothes off," he demanded, reaching for the closures on his own undersuit knits, which he was still wearing.

Bucky never hesitated. He set Tony on his feet then all but tore his own knits at their seams in his eagerness to get them off. "Yeah, Tony, come on, I need you."

Hurriedly working the knits off over his feet and tossing them ... somewhere -- he didn't care whatsoever -- Tony plastered himself against Bucky's bare chest, enjoying the jolt of sensation that seemed to burn through him, racing up and down his nerves like fire. He wrapped his arms around Bucky's waist and ran his hands over the planes of muscle within reach.

"You've got me," he answered after spending a few seconds just reveling in the feeling. Having Bucky pressed against him, hard and wanting, and smelling like a mix of sex and hard work, was never going to get old. Tony was as sure of that as he was of his own name.

"Want more than that," Bucky told him, taking two handfuls of Tony's ass and lifting until his feet left the floor.

Surprised, Tony jumped. All Bucky did was tumble them onto his bunk, though, pinning Tony to the level and moderately soft surface with his bodyweight. The position left him in the perfect alignment so that they could just rub off on each others' skin, and, really, that would have been nice, but Tony had other plans. He wrapped his hands around Bucky's hips and stopped the small teasing movements his lover was making.

"You promised me your hands," he reminded Bucky, not sure how he managed to think clearly enough to remember that through the heat setting fire to every part of him, but about a thousand percent sure that was what he wanted.

Bucky's eyes lit up. "You got it, sweetheart. Gonna make you feel so good," he promised, then pried himself out of Tony's arms with some effort and dug around in his footlocker.

When he resurfaced with a condom and lube, Tony grinned. "Good thinking."

His boyfriend preened a little under the praise, then made a few of Tony's brain cells short out, crawling back onto the bed and up the length of Tony's body until they were nose to nose again.

"Buh?" Tony tried, and got cut off as Bucky leaned down and kissed the breath right out of him, determinedly doing everything he could to make Tony's head spin. He licked at Tony's lips, then right into his mouth and did his damnedest to find all the spots that drove Tony wild. Meanwhile, his hands weren't idle, either, skimming lightly over all the skin of Tony's arms, shoulders, chest, belly, hell, all the way down to his knees.

All Tony could do was try to cling to his sanity and grind his hard cock against Bucky's abs.

Then that got even more difficult.

The kiss broke and Bucky slid down until he could nip at the skin of Tony's pecs. A pair of lubed fingers drifted down between his legs, and pressed teasingly at the skin behind his balls.

"Fuck! Oh," Tony groaned, holding onto Bucky's shoulders for dear life. "More!"

Whatever was happening, everything felt more intense than it ever had before, and Tony was loving every second of it. Even just the feeling of the tips of Bucky's fingers toying with him was going to drive him wild.

It sure didn't help that Bucky was looking at him like every sound and twitch of his hips was a gift, either. No one had ever stared at him like he was precious before.

The sensation of Bucky's strong fingers carefully opening him up, painstakingly slowly and gently despite the rising urgency Tony knew Bucky was feeling? That was making him bite his lip and fight not to try to urge his lover on. He wanted faster and harder, but the care Bucky was showing made him feel loved and cherished and he also wanted to revel in that.

He couldn't stop himself from pushing into the touches eagerly, nonverbally encouraging and praising Bucky. 

When Bucky leaned in for another searing kiss that Tony thought might leave him a little pile of ash, he realised that he was making little keening sounds at the back of his throat.

"Shh," Bucky soothed him when the kiss finally broke, "I'll get there. Want this to be good."

Tony fought to catch his breath. "Already is," he managed to gasp out. "Don't want it to end. But I need--" The words cut off when Bucky hit something inside him that made him twitch hard, full body. "Yes, that. More-- more of that."

Looking very pleased with himself, Bucky nodded. "More," he agreed with a grin. "More sounds good."

Pulling his fingers free, he sat back on his heels, cleaned off his hand on a hand towel Tony hadn't seen him grab, and applied condom and lube. Then, catching Tony's eyes, he grabbed for Tony's left foot, bracing it against the front of his chest. The other leg went under Bucky's left arm, and Tony's hands automatically went around Bucky's thighs, high up near the point where they met Bucky's torso.

They paused for a moment, then Bucky started pushing in. He went tortuously slowly, taking his time and resisting all of Tony's attempts to use the minimal leverage he had to hurry things along.

"No, sweetheart," Bucky told him after the second time he tried to yank Bucky closer, "slow."

That amount of self-control ought to be illegal for any one person to have. It was going to drive Tony not-so-quietly out of his mind. Beyond stringing words together, he let his head fall back, baring his neck, and whined. "Bucky, shit." 

"Good," Bucky answered breathlessly, grinning at him, and pushed the rest of the way in on one long thrust.

The sensation made Tony's back arch and his hands clench hard on Bucky's thighs, and he knew there would be matching sets of finger bruises there later. A fine sweat broke out all over his body, and he felt his breath catch in his throat when he tried to inhale. His next breath wheezed on its way in, and he almost felt embarrassed by that. But Bucky didn't seem to mind one bit. He leaned down and started leaving hickeys and love bites all over Tony's calf. That was...

That was not something he'd ever imagined trying. Let alone that it might feel good. He squirmed when the pleasant shivers made it impossible to keep still anymore, and tried once more to pull Bucky in closer where he could grind up against the cock buried in him. That time, Bucky allowed it. "Good," Tony agreed, knowing that a short silence had fallen and stretched out while he processed what was happening, "but you need to move."

"Alright," Bucky nodded, surprising him with the acquiescence. "I'm gonna put you through this mattress. Slowly."

He did just what he'd promised, too, and Tony couldn't hold back the loud groan it punched out of him. Rolling thrusts that felt like they somehow might punch through right up into his throat, sending jolts of heat and pleasure rushing up and down his spine to tingle at his fingertips and make his toes curl... He hadn't felt anything like this in years. Maybe not ever. "Ah! Oh, oh god, Bucky, fuck!"

"Yeah."

It took him off guard when he came a few thrusts later, every muscle tensing with enough force to lift him up off the mattress a few centimeters. Bucky hissed something that Tony couldn't make out, but the tone was bordering on exultant. "Bucky! Yes, god."

All expectations to the contrary, though, he stayed hard, and Bucky _noticed_ that. His lover didn't let up. Tony made a choked sound and fought to get more and faster.

Fighting to get enough air to think at all, Tony tried to use his grip on Bucky to convey what he wanted. His boyfriend, evil sex genius that he was turning out to be, just bit his lip with an almost pained groan and kept moving, fucking him through that orgasm and very obviously aiming to try to wring another one out of him. Tony would have been staggered by that level of control, under other circumstances, but right now, he just wanted to see if Bucky could actually pull that off.

With a keening whine that caught in the back of his throat, Tony gave in to the rising urge to take himself in hand.

Bucky was having none of that, though. Letting go of Tony just long enough to peel his hand away from his cock and twine their hands together, he shook his head, words escaping him. Tony gave in. Let Bucky have his way this time; next time, he would be in control.

When he relaxed into it, Bucky's expression twisted and he wrapped his left arm around the calf he'd braced against his chest. His movements picking up in tempo and force, he adjusted the angle of his thrusts just slightly. The jolt of pleasure that shot through him when Bucky nailed that wonderfully sensitive spot inside was enough to make Tony tense and writhe as best he could.

Bucky encouraged that. "Shit, oh, Tony, you-- you feel amazing. Make it so-- goddamn hard to... to hold back."

"Don't," Tony suggested, wanting to see and hear Bucky come. He hadn't, that afternoon weeks ago in the lab. He'd had to keep his attention on his graphs. But now, now he needed to see it. Needed it almost more than his next breath.

Bucky probably felt the same.

"Don't hold back anymore," he said, voice hitching and wavering under the persistent assault of the waves of pleasure shuddering through him, their edges sharpened by the sensitivity he'd barely noticed until now.

Tossing his head back, his eyes wide and dark, Bucky tried to stick to his guns. "Want this to last," he disagreed.

"Already has," Tony told him, feeling the edge of another orgasm creeping up on him. It was obvious he hadn't convinced Bucky, but he wasn't going to be up for a third round. That much Tony was certain of. Even two in a row was usually beyond him. "Two's more than-- oh god that's good-- more than usual, anyway."

"Don't care," Bucky told him breathlessly, "want this forever."

Which was sweet, but impractical. It also sent a wash of emotion through Tony, warm and addicting in its effects, that happened to coincide with a particularly strong jolt of pleasure. With a tired groan, Tony came again, a long slow wave of heat that melted the tension in him rather than snapping it.

Bucky couldn't hold back that time, and Tony finally got what he wanted. The instant his eyes reopened, Bucky's met his, and he came with a loud shout, slamming in deep and staying there as his orgasm wrung him dry.

When he'd finished, he went boneless, his weight resting against Tony's foot, and fought to even his breathing. "Holy shit."

Tony laughed at him, still flying high on the afterglow and agreeable. "That about sums it up."

"Ain't never been that good before," he commented, more self-satisfied than a cat who'd gotten into the cream. "Was it good for you too?"

Tony huffed at his idiot boyfriend, the movement jostling his leg, pressed against his torso, and Bucky, leaning against his foot. "You just made me come twice. Think about that for a second."

"I know. That was fun." Carefully, gently, Bucky pulled out, then cleaned himself up. "Want to try that again?"

Throwing an arm over his face and sighing into the crook of his elbow, Tony replied, "Only if you let me rest a bit first. But it's your turn next, in any case."

"Oh, I'm lookin' forward to it, sweetheart." Bucky said, voice full of challenge. "If you think you can top this, go for it. I'm not sure anything can."

Now that was fighting dirty. Tony let his arm flop back down to rest at his side. "Just you wait, Barnes. I'll show you just how good it can be."

Bucky smirked at him crookedly, but didn't reply verbally. Instead, he stretched out next to Tony and flung an arm over his waist and a leg between Tony's. The pose left them tangled closely together and was more comforting than Tony would ever admit. It was his new favourite way to sleep, made popular by the last three weeks, and Bucky clearly knew it, even if the topic had never come up. "Get some rest, then. I expect you to show me a good time, a bit later."

"Yeah, sure." Tony hummed contentedly under his breath and settled down, closing his eyes. "Later."

The rest of the day shift passed in a haze of heat and pleasure. Both of them were apparently insatiable, and Tony wondered at it. When they both finally resurfaced, about three hours later, ravenous and thirsty, Tony decided it felt like he could see clearly for the first time since they'd gotten into the lab.

Oh.

Wait a minute. "Bucky?"

"Hmmm?"

His lover didn't bother opening his eyes, and Tony took a moment to enjoy the sight Bucky made. Hickeys and bite marks littered his torso and groin, and he looked thoroughly sexed up. It was attractive as sin, and was very nearly temptation enough to make Tony set aside the thoughts of what had happened. It was potentially important, though. "How're you feeling?"

"Well-fucked." Bucky peeled one eye open. "Why?"

Tony hesitated. He didn't want to put words in Bucky's mouth. "Anything feel different now?"

"Besides the soreness?" Bucky teased him.

"Yeah, smartass. Besides the soreness." Tony rolled his eyes at his lover.

Bucky shrugged, looking a bit helpless. He spent a few seconds visibly searching for the right words. "I-- It's strange but it feels like a fog's lifted." 

"I agree. And it was probably that flower that did it... whatever it was."

"Uh. Weird." Bucky thought about that for a moment. "So what now?"

"Well, I feel fine, physically, besides the soreness."

"Me too. I'd say we should get it checked out, but that's not something a field medic is going to be able to help with."

"Exactly," Tony grumbled. "It'll have to wait until we're back at HQ. Meantime we'll have to monitor it and see what changes, over the next few days."

"Sounds reasonable." Bucky wrapped himself bodily around Tony. "Now, what do you say we get ourselves something to eat?"

Tony made a face. "But that means facing the rest of your team."

"They already know we're together. Hell, they threw us at each other." Bucky pointed out. "Anyone complains about it, I'll make sure I make you scream loud enough to wake them up, next sleep cycle."


End file.
